Post navigation

Media column version 08.22.14: A Mo’ne that’s a media work of art

So you had a Sports Illustrated cover with Mo’ne Davis on it this week?
Here’s what showed up in our mail box.
The bottom line is that Davis, the 13-year-old Little Leaguer who wants to play college hoops at UConn someday, stole the headlines for most of this week. All she needed to do was take the Ice Bucket Challenge and be named the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback to really make herself a media sensation.
We look at the impact she had from a media standpoint in this week’s column.

== And there’s this NBC clip from 1989 when Vicky Brucker made headlines as a girl playing in the Little League World Series as she represented Eastview Little League in San Pedro. Notice how the media treated it back then versus today.

== USC’s coverage for its football program starting Aug. 30 instead extended pre- and post-game shows on KSPN-AM (710), as well as a broader online presence, the school announced Thursday. A four-hour pregame begins with Pete Arbogast, Steve Mason, Harvey Hyde, John Jackson and Trojan social media director Jordan Moore. Arbogast, Jackson and Moore handle the game broadcast. A new two-hour postgame show will be handled by former USC All-American Shaun Cody and Kelli Tennant. Chris Fisher, the USC men’s basketball play-by-play man, will fill in for Tennant when she has other TV assignments, mostly for Time Warner Cable SportsNet. The radio network includes audio streaming on USCTrojans.com, ESPNLA.com and the TuneIn Radio app for mobile devices. A “Trojans Live” show will also be available on the new all-sports KFWB-AM (980) with Jackson and Moore at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays during the season.

== With Jim Watson in Nanjing, China calling gymnastics, diving and trampoline for NBC’s coverage of the Youth Olympic Games through Aug. 28, Steve Quis will replace him with Mary Murphy to call Game 1 of the Sparks’ WNBA Western Conference semifinals series against Phoenix starting Friday at 7 p.m. on TWC SportsNet. Quis and Murphy will also do a Game 3 Monday if necessary. Sunday’s Game 2 from Staples Center has Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe on the call for ESPN2.

== As part of a new deal to be part of the NBCSN broadcast team on Premiere League games, U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper Tim Howard will come back from playing for Everton on Saturday to join Lee Dixon and ITV Sports’ Matt Smith on the studio coverage of Manchester City-Liverpool on Monday at noon. Arlo White calls Manchester City-Liverpool as well as Everton-Arsenal on Saturday. NBC, meanwhile, reported that by Nielsen’s estimates, more than 3.3 million people watched the five Premiere League opening-season matches last Saturday and Sunday on NBC and NBCSN, up a very modest 3 percent from a year ago. Most watched was Saturday’s Arsenal-Crystal Palace on NBC (885,000 viewers). Los Angeles wasn’t in the top 15 markets.

== NBCSN has the $1 million Pacific Classic from Del Mar (Sunday, 5 p.m.), with Randy Moss, Jerry Bailey, Laffit Pincay III, Jay Privman and Kenny Rice as part of the broadcast team. The network also has Saturday’s Travers Stakes from Saratoga at 1:30 p.m.

== For those who didn’t get to see the video yet of “Breaking Bad” star Bryan Cranston join Vin Scully in the Dodger Stadium broadcast booth before Tuesday’s game.

== Ken Aagaard, who as CBS Sports’ senior VP of operations and productions and chairman of the advisory board for the Sports Video Group helped launch the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame back in 2007, will now be one of its inductees. Aagaard, currently the executive VP of engineering, operations and production services for CBS Sports, saw Howard Cosell, Jim McKay, Roone Arledge, Ed Sabol and Pete Rozelle as part of the first class to go in. This December, Aagaard will go in with a class that includes current NFL Network president and former chairman of ESPN Steve Bornstein, CEO and chairman of Fox Sports Media Group David Hill, the late broadcaster Chris Schenkel and former NBA commissioner David Stern. More info on the organization’s Hall linked here.

== Because Keith Olbermann says “I attended Bart Giamatti’s news conference 25 years ago and it remains one of the most extraordinary moments I’ve ever covered,” the ESPN commentator will have a special on the anniversary of Pete Rose’s ban from baseball during the 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25 one-hour episode of “Olbermann.” He explained further in a press release: “We’re going to look at that day, all the days since, and I hope to explain why I’ve evolved from being in full support of the banishment, to advocating Rose’s immediate reinstatement.” Because, in the end, it’s all about Olbermann. Joining Olbermann will be ESPN’s Bob Ley, Tim Kurkjian, Jeremy Schaap and T.J. Quinn, who were part of a special “Outside The Lines” special on the same subject this past Wednesday.

== Ari Wolfe, Anthony Herron, JB Long and Sherdick Bonner are the ESPN broadcast team for ArenaBowl XXVII between Arizona and Cleveland on Saturday at 5 p.m.

== Interview answer of the week came from Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer, asked Wednesday by ESPN’s Bob Holtzman about what he learned about himself this week after it was finally announced that he’d be the team’s starter instead of Johnny Manziel: “I learned that I can block things out pretty well. Just avoiding ESPN – no offense – NFL Network, Twitter, the Internet, trying to condense my life and focus on what’s going in the building and on the field.”

Meta

Comments policy

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@langnews.com.